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Mutual (Mis)understanding: Reframing Autistic Pragmatic "Impairments" Using Relevance Theory.
Gemma L Williams1, Tim Wharton1, Caroline Jagoe2
1School of Humanities, University of Brighton, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Communication difficulties in autism may stem from differing perspectives, not deficits. Relevance theory suggests mutual understanding is possible when shared relevance is recognized, improving interactions between autistic and non-autistic individuals.
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Area of Science:
- Neurodiversity and Communication Studies
- Cognitive Linguistics
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Autism is characterized by social communication challenges.
- The double empathy problem highlights bidirectional communication difficulties between autistic and non-autistic individuals.
- Relevance theory offers a cognitive framework for understanding utterance interpretation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore communication dynamics between autistic individuals using relevance theory.
- To investigate the impact of interlocutor pairing (autistic/autistic vs. autistic/non-autistic) on mutual understanding.
- To examine how embodied experiences influence communication salience and interpretation.
Main Methods:
- A linguistic ethnographic study involving eight autistic participants.
- Naturalistic conversations on loneliness with familiar partners, non-autistic strangers, and autistic strangers.
- Analysis of conversational interactions through the lens of relevance theory.
Main Results:
- Unexpectedly high mutual understanding was observed across all conversation types.
- Conversations between two autistic participants showed significantly increased flow, rapport, and intersubjective attunement.
- In some cases, autistic individuals demonstrated improved communicative competence when conversing with other autistic individuals.
Conclusions:
- Relevance theory provides a valuable framework for understanding autistic communication.
- The findings challenge deficit-based models, emphasizing the role of mutual recognition in communication.
- Interventions should focus on fostering shared relevance and mutual understanding to improve communication between autistic and non-autistic people.

